Some
Principal Campus and Community Activities--Community Service
and Civic Engagement:* DJ, Insurgence, Thursdays
10 pm to Midnight, US Central Time, WHYS, 96.3 FM, Eau
Claire Community Radio . . . Progressive Community Radio *

** Unitarian Universalist
Congregation of Eau Claire **

*** Vice
President, United Faculty and Staff of UW-Eau Claire,
American Federation of Teachers Local 6481 ***

Joy
Division--"Shadowplay"

To the
centre of the city where all roads meet - waiting for you To the
depths of the ocean where all hopes sank - searching for you
Moving
through the silence without motion - waiting for you In a
room with a window in the corner I found truth

In the
shadowplay, acting out your own death - knowing no more As the
assassins all grouped in four lines, dancing on the floor And
with cold steel, odour on their bodies, made a move to
connect I
could only stare in disbelief as the crowds all left

I did
everything, everything I wanted to I let
them use you for their own ends To the
centre of the city in the night - waiting for you To the
centre of the city in the night - waiting for you

Joy
Division--"Disorder"

I've
been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand Could
these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?
New
sensations barely interest me for another day I've
got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away

It's
getting faster, moving faster now, it's getting out of hand
On the
tenth floor, down the back stairs, it's a no man's land Lights
are flashing, cars are crashing, getting frequent now I've
got the spirit, lose the feeling, let it out somehow

What
means to you, what means to me, and we will meet again I'm
watching you, I'm watching her - I take no pity from your
friends Who is
right, who can tell, and who gives a damn right now? Until
the spirit, new sensation takes hold - then you know -- [or on all
the official live versions: I've
got the spirit, lose the feeling, let it out somehow --]

I've
got the spirit, but lose the feeling, feeling, feeling --

***

Principal Areas of Intellectual
Interest and Concentration:

Critical
Theory

Cinema
Studies

Critical
Studies in Contemporary Popular Music Cultures

Scottish
Studies

Gay and
Queer Studies

Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction

19th to 21st Century Social History and Cultural Studies, the
Nations and Peoples of the British Isles
Late 20th to Early 21st Century British and American
Drama and Theatre

Progressive to Radical Left History and Politics

It is the minorities who have made the history of this
world. It is the few who have had the courage to take
their places at the front; who have been true enough to
themselves to speak the truth that was in them; who have dared
oppose the established order of things; who have espoused the
cause of the suffering, struggling poor; who have upheld without
regard to personal consequences the cause of freedom and
righteousness. It is they, the heroic, self-sacrificing
few who have made the history of the race and who have paved the
way from barbarism to civilization. The many prefer to
remain upon the popular side. They lack the courage and
vision to join a despised minority that stands for a principle;
they have not the moral fiber that withstands, endures and
finally conquers. They are to be pitied and not treated
with contempt for they cannot help their cowardice. But,
thank God, in every age and in every nation there have been the
brave and self-reliant few, and they have been sufficient to
their historic task; and we, who are here today, are under
infinite obligations to them because they suffered, they
sacrificed, they went to jail, they had their bones broken upon
the wheel, they were burned at the stake and their ashes
scattered to the winds by the hands of hate and revenge in their
struggle to leave the world better for us than they found it for
themselves. We are under eternal obligations to them
because of what they did and what they suffered for us and the
only way we can discharge that obligation is by doing the best
we can for those who are to come after us. And this is the
high purpose of every Socialist on earth. Everywhere they
are animated by the same lofty principles; everywhere they have
the same noble ideals; everywhere they are clasping hands across
national boundary lines; everywhere they are calling one another
Comrade, the blessed word that springs from the heart of unity
and bursts into blossom upon the lips. Each passing day
they are getting into closer touch all along the battle line,
waging the holy war of the working class of the world against
the ruling and exploiting class of the world. They make many
mistakes and they profit by them all. They encounter
numerous defeats, and grow stronger through them all. They
never take a backward step.

The heart of the international Socialist
never beats a retreat.

They are pressing forward, here, there and
everywhere, in all the zones that girdle the globe.
Everywhere these awakening workers, these class-conscious
proletarians, these hardy sons and daughters of honest toil are
proclaiming the glad tidings of the coming emancipation,
everywhere their hearts are attuned to the most sacred cause
that ever challenged men and women to action in all the history
of the world. Everywhere they are moving toward democracy
and the dawn; marching toward the sunrise, their faces all aglow
with the light of the coming day. These are the
Socialists, the most zealous and enthusiastic crusaders the
world has ever known. They are making history that will light up
the horizon of coming generations, for their mission is the
emancipation of the human race. They have been reviled; they
have been ridiculed, persecuted, imprisoned and have suffered
death, but they have been sufficient to themselves and their
cause, and their final triumph is but a question of time.

Eugene V. Debs, From "The Anti-War Speech" [The Speech That Led
to His Imprisonment], June 16, 1918, Canton, Ohio

"Novelty"

Joy
Division

Track history

Recorded on May 3rd/4th
1978 at Arrow Studios, Manchester; released on WarsawRecorded in July 1979 at
Central Sound Studios, Manchester (but not released)Live performance on July
13th 1979 at The Factory released on Heart and
SoulRecorded in July-August
1979 at Strawberry Studios, StockportThis version originally
released as B-side of "Transmission" singleAlso released on Substance, on Permanent and on Heart and
Soul

LyricsWhen the people listen to
you, don't you know it means a lot'Cause you've got to work
so hard for everything you've gotCan't rest on your laurels
now - not when you've got noneYou'll find yourself in
the gutter, right back where you came from

Someone told me being in
the know is the main thingWe all need the security
that belonging bringsCan't stand on your own in
these times against all the oddsI don't want to act uncool
like all the other sods[or in the later version: You'll just fall
behind like all the other sods]

In the Heart and Soul live version the previous
verse is replaced by: Where you gonna run
to now? where you gonna hide? All the dreams you
ever had are tied up deep inside Staring in the
mirror now, with everything you've seen Looking back and
telling the crowd just what might have been

You slap our backs and
pretend you knewAbout all the things that
we were gonna doWhat ya gonna do, what ya
gonna do when it's over?

You're all on your own now
- don't you think that it's a shameBut you're the only one
responsible to take the blame

The
original version concludes:When ya gonna grow up and
act, and be yourselfCause pretty soon you'll
find yourself nailed to the shelfGrab it while you can, but
don't ever relaxCause there's always
someone gonna stab your backWhat ya gonna do, what ya
gonna do when it's over?

The
later versions conclude:So what ya gonna do when
the novelty has gone?Yeah, what ya gonna do
when the novelty has gone?[or in theHeart and Soul live
version: "when the novelty fades away"]You slap our backs and
pretend you knewAbout all the things that
we were gonna doWhat ya gonna do, what ya
gonna do when it's over?

Other informationThis was a very early Joy
Division song which evolved through several lyric changesThe unreleased Central
Sound version had
two lines not found in other recordings: Thinking on your
own of the past, of every small mistake Never took a chance
at all, with everything at stake

I'm
here and I'm queer and I do what I do And I'm
not gonna wear . . . a "straight" jacket for you -- Tom
Robinson "(Sing If You're) Glad to Be Gay"

The
earth is a living, conscious being. In company
with cultures of many different times and places, we
name these things as sacred: air, fire, water, and
earth.

Whether
we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of
the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a
Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems
that sustain life, we know that nothing can live
without them.

To
call these things sacred is to say that they have a
value beyond their usefulness for human ends, and they
themselves become the standards by which our acts, our
economics, our laws, and our purposes must be
judged. No one has the right to appropriate them
or profit from them at the expense of others.
Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its
legitimacy.

All
people, all living things, are part of the earth life,
and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or
lower than any other. Only justice can assure
balance: only ecological balance can sustain
freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred
thing we call spirit flourish in its full diversity.

To
honor the sacred is to create conditions in which
nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom,
and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to
make love possible.

To
this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage,
our silences, and our voices. To this we
dedicate our lives.

--
From Starhawk, The
Fifth Sacred Thing

"Radio
Cure"--Wilco--Yankee
Hotel Foxtrot, Nonesuch Records, 2002cheer up honey
I
hope
you canthere
is
something
wrong with memy
mind
is filled with silvery stuffhoney
kisses
clouds of fluffshoulders
shrugging
off

cheer
up
honey
I
hope
you canthere
is
something
wrong with memy
mind
is filled with radio cureselectronic
surgical
words

picking
apples
for the kings and queens of things I've never
seenoh,
distance
has no way of making love understandable

cheer
up
honey
I
hope
you canthere
is
something
wrong with memy
mind
is filled with silvery starshoney
kisses
clouds of love

picking
apples
for the kings and queens of things I'venever
seenoh,
distance
has no way of making love understandableoh,
distance
has no way of making love understandableoh,
distance
has no way of making love understandableoh,
distance
has no way of making love understandable

cheer
up
honey
I
hope you can

***************

Anywhere,

any
place or road,

There
was you.

So I came back.

The Blood
Knot -- by Athol Fugard

****************

Don't be playing games That'll
start
me playing tooThe
way shadows cross the lineI
may have played more games than you

The
dormant violenceOf
the subtle mindMakes
the
cleanest cutThe
hardest cut to find

That
part
where anger aloneCan't
keep
it's promise of revengeIt
takes the dance with rageTo
put fire to that page . . .

From
"Spectator"--John
Trudell
***************Don't be content to remain a mere 'spectator'
throughout your life, and don't end up recognizing--and
regretting--that you 'should have done what you could',
but instead merely 'went and did what you
would'. Act up, fight
back!

***************And
remember, don't surrender to cynicism. as much
as temporary--and strategic--cynicism can indeed at
recurrent times be both inevitable and useful--because
cynicism, especially as a persistent frame of
intelligibility, and a predominant structure of
feeling, too often amounts to nothing but the
following, hiding beneath a thin veneer of pragmatic
'realism': disillusioned idealism, embittered resignation,
intimidated and worn-out withdrawal, and despairing and
solipsistic individualism. [And this certainly
includes cynicism in the guise of ludic postmodern
nihilism. Inquire--and reflect--if you don't know
what I mean here.] In short, cynicism
all-too-quickly becomes thoroughly politically
reactionary. Dare to dream--and to work, and
struggle, to make dreams reality.
***************Believe in your
dreams, and take the risk of actively identifying and
positively commiting yourself with what your dreams
imagine. "Some men dream dreams of what was
and ask 'why?' I dream dreams of things that never
were, and ask 'why not?'" -- Robert Kennedy, adapted from
George Bernard Shaw

WORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION, COLLECTIVE
EQUALITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE, ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY, AND A
PEACEFUL WORLD!

***

What Do "Progressives"
Believe?

1.
Progressives believe that we are all ultimately deeply
interconnected, that the public good should always
come before private gain, that we should work together to
take care of each other, that we should work together to
make a better future for those who come after us, and that
we have a responsibility to do so for those who will
succeed us. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.2.
Progressives believe we maintain a responsibility to
serve as genuine stewards in relation to our larger
natural environment while progressives at the same time
respect and value the ‘wisdom’ of nature as well as all
the ‘wisdom’ of what nature has created and
provided. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.3.
Progressives respect and value the wisdom of genuinely
popular, or folk, cultures, subcultures, and their customs
and traditions as well as their achievements and
contributions; progressives support and defend the right
of the oppressed and exploited to fight back against their
exploiters and oppressors; and progressives seek to assist
the relatively disprivileged and disempowered in raising
themselves up through their own efforts.
Progressives fight against forces and interests which
contend or act otherwise.4.
Progressives believe in genuine, substantive, materially
concrete expression of fairness and equality for
all, and progressives sincerely, actively care for those
who are relatively disprivileged and disempowered.
Progressives fight against forces and interests which
contend or act otherwise.5.
Progressives believe in working actively to overcome
exploitative and oppressive disparities in social wealth,
social privilege, and social power. Progressives
fight against forces and interests which contend or act
otherwise.6.
Progressives believe in the inherent dignity, worth, and
natural equality of all people, regardless of race,
ethnicity, or nationality. Progressives fight
against forces and interests which contend or act
otherwise.

7.
Progressives believe in the inherent dignity, worth, and
natural equality of all people, regardless of sex or
gender. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.

8.
Progressives believe in the inherent dignity, worth, and
natural equality of all people, regardless of sexual
orientation. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.9.
Progressives believe in the inherent dignity, worth, and
natural equality of all people, regardless of age or of
physical and mental ability. Progressives fight
against forces and interests which contend or act
otherwise.10.
Progressives respect and value the contribution of labor,
and of laborers, in producing and reproducing social
wealth; progressives reject, oppose, and seek to overcome
exploitative and oppressive forms of class difference, and
hierarchy, especially that realized through the
exploitation of labor, and the private ownership and
control of the means, processes, and ends of social
wealth; and progressives are ultimately, in essence,
anti-capitalist and pro-socialist as well as
pro-communist. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.11.
Progressives believe in social responsibility and
accountability–and especially in holding those who
exploit, and oppress, as well as those who maintain
complicity with exploitation and oppression responsible,
and accountable, for this wrong, while progressives
simultaneously believe in active civic participation, in
citizens taking responsibility for our own government, for
governing ourselves, and for making government truly the
people’s servant and truly serve the people’s
interest. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.12.
Progressives believe that genuine community requires that
everyone within the community enjoy the freedom to realize
their full human potential, and progressives believe that
realization of our full human potential as members of a
genuine community is in fact only possible for each and
every one of us when freedoms can actually be exercised
and opportunities are in fact available.
Progressives fight against forces and interests which
contend or act otherwise.13.
Progressives fight against social alienation, and
especially against the forces and conditions which
generate this alienation, while progressives at the same
time reject, oppose, and seek to overcome cynicism,
apathy, disengagement, and despair. Progressives
fight against forces and interests which contend or act
otherwise. 14.
Progressives reject, oppose, and seek to overcome selfish
individualism, and progressives reject, oppose, and seek
to overcome the commercial cooptation of human culture and
the commoditization of human social relations Progressives
fight against forces and interests which contend or act
otherwise.15.
Progressives
reject, oppose, and seek to overcome reification and
compartmentalization in thought and action, and
progressives likewise reject, oppose, and seek to overcome
desensitization, callous indifference and lack of concern
for others, as well as processes of ‘othering', and
especially ‘abjectification’, in general.
Progressives fight against forces and interests which
contend or act otherwise.16.
Progressives strongly oppose militarism and imperialism–
economic, political, and cultural. Progressives
fight against forces and interests which contend or act
otherwise.17.
Progressives strongly oppose fascism, neo-fascism,
proto-fascism, and post-fascism, in all varieties, as well
as all other forms of genuine totalitarianism.
Progressives fight against forces and interests which
contend or act otherwise.

18.
Progressives
commit themselves toward working actively to advance the
causes of human emancipation, collective equality, social
justice, ecological sustainability, and a peaceful
world. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.19.
Progressives believe that real social progress ultimately
requires real social transformation–and not mere social
reformation. Progressives fight against forces and
interests which contend or act otherwise.20.
Progressives believe in the value, and indeed necessity,
of forceful, creative, determined, persistent, and even at
times relentless engagement in questioning, challenging,
critiquing, resisting, rebelling, and revolting versus
established power and authority in order to advance
progressive ends and serve progressive interests.

THESE ARE MY VALUES. I SHARE THEM WITH YOU.
SHARE THEM WITH ME. SHARE THEM WITH OTHERS.
LIVE THEM IN THE WORLD. -- Bob Nowlan aka Insurgent Sean Murphy

***

ALL POSITIONS ADVANCED ON THESE PAGES SOLELY
REPRESENT PROFESSOR BOB NOWLAN, AS A TEACHER,
SCHOLAR, PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL, AND ACTIVE
PARTICIPANT IN COMMUNITY SERVICE AND CIVIC
ENGAGEMENT. THESE POSITIONS DO NOT
NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN,
OR ANYONE ELSE WORKING FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF
WISCONSIN. PROFESSOR NOWLAN AND THE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SHARE A COMMON COMMITMENT
TO STRIVE TO 'IMPROVE THE HUMAN CONDITION' AND
'SEARCH FOR TRUTH'. PROFESSOR NOWLAN AND THE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-EAU CLAIRE SHARE A COMMON
COMMITMENT TO FOSTER 'CREATIVITY, CRITICAL
INSIGHT, EMPATHY, AND INTELLECTUAL COURAGE'.